A Beautiful Story To Make You Smile: There’s Still Hope For Humanity!

I hate watching the news. The world seems to be an increasingly violent and depressing place and each new day brings stories of cruelty, hatred and injustice that leave me feeling helpless and in despair of humanity. However, every so often I will see a story that reminds me that there are still wonderful people out there…

Last year, Canadian Jordan Axani and his girlfriend, Elizabeth Gallagher, booked a three week round-the-world vacation for the Christmas holidays, but then they broke up before the trip took place. However, instead of letting the spare ticket go to waste, Jordan turned to Reddit in an attempt to find another Canadian girl with the same name as his ex who was willing to join him. Asking for nothing in return, his criteria was simple:

1. Be sane, smart and (hopefully) interesting.

2. Have always wanted to travel, but maybe haven’t had the opportunity or cash to see much of the world.

3. Be named Elizabeth Gallagher and have a Canadian passport.

4. Be ready for a rather spontaneous life experience that will, one day, be an epic story that you’ll tell your kids.

5. Pay it forward. I’ve been lucky in life and this is me giving back to the universe. Do something similar today.

The story went viral, Axani received thousands of applications and the lucky recipient was a 23 year old student, Elizabeth Quinn Gallagher, from Nova Scotia. Gallagher, who has a boyfriend (apparently he wasn’t hugely impressed with her plans to spend Christmas with a complete stranger), initially thought the idea was a little crazy, but was quickly put at ease by Axani in a number of conversations over the phone. They met in the airport departure lounge at Toronto on 21st December and visited eight different places – New York, Milan, Venice, Prague, New Dehli, Khao Lak and Hong Kong, before returning on the 8th January. Because Axani stopped planning the trip further when he and his ex broke up, there were no hotel rooms booked, but when Marriott International heard about it, they provided separate rooms at each stop of their journey.

Paris

New York

Hong Kong

It seems that they developed a great friendship, joking on their return about Axani’s fear of heights and Gallagher’s frequent ability to get lost, they had a wonderful time and I’m pleased for them both.

However, the beauty of the story doesn’t stop there. Axani was inspired by incredibly touching message that he received from and eight year-old boy who was losing his sight and wanted to see the world before he lost his vision completely, and has now set up an charity organisation with his brother called A Ticket Forward to help people travel but don’t have the money.

What a wonderful story, created by a kind and generous person. Perhaps there is hope for humanity after all!

If you wish to make a donation to A Ticket Forward, simply click this link

There is definitely hope for humanity, and not just because of this story. News organizations are notorious for highlighting tragedy to grab attention. Sometimes I worry about the state of things as well. Had I seen Jordan Axani’s ad I might have been tempted to forge myself a Canadian passport and put on a wig.

The world never ceases to amaze me. It just goes to show that it doesn’t matter if the good deed your gonna do is small. Be it a small giveaway. If your lucky that small thing you did will have a chain of events following it leading to a bigger change in the world. The smallest of things can be the start of the biggest wonders. Thanks for sharing this story it really brighten up my gloomy day 🙂

I agree with Phil Taylor.
Media has two sides – Nedia, as we know it, TRP driven; Pedia, which circulates only positive vibes! Somehow, negative news travels at the speed of light; positive trudges along like a bull-cart! Our collective mental disposition is to blame!!

Me too… I’m in a long term committed relationship so I’m trying to imagine The Bloke’s face if I told him I was going on a three week trip with a complete stranger over Christmas to some of the most beautiful places in the world. I’m also trying to imagine how I would behave if I were single and on a trip like that…

What an amazing story! Jordan is an awesome guy. I look forward to one day reading that he found “Mrs. Right.” I learned about the possibility of platonic relationships early in my life. When significant others are acknowledged and brought into the mix, the true beauty of the relationship comes out.

Haha, absolutely! He must have been an extremely trusting man – I’ve been with my bloke for years and I know that he trusts me, but I can’t imagine that his reaction would be positive if I told him that I was going away for three weeks over Christmas with another man!

I was already familiar with this story, but I wanted to coment on the “news.” I never watch the news on holidays, holiday weekends, birthdays, or other special days. I am happier and non the worse for wear for missing the latest disasters and atrocities! I recommend the practice of blocking out the news. I also never watch it on Sundays.